"Well of course Miss.Xiao. Why wouldn't I? Did you not just say you didn't need my help? I don't care enough to stay and meddle after something like that. You all are quite bold to almost destroy a library." Shen Yue said amused over his shoulder as he stepped out of the barrier. "I protected the books I had, they were the most important after all."
"Why did you not stop what was going on earlier?" Nie Lie asked. He picked up the humming sound and knew it came from Shen Yue. Just had no idea what technique it was. "You were definitely aware something was wrong with her." Considering the four were the only ones in the barrier fighting helped. 'How did he do it exactly?'
"Well, couldn't you have handled it better as well? I mean, everyone can tell she is gaga over you. Why not deal with it first instead of going after that Ye Ziyun brat who has a fiance by now. Man, that is pretty low of you." Shen Yue said questionably to Nie Lie. He approached him slowly and whispered only loud enough for him to hear. "Do not forget you are here due to that Temporal Book and your focus should be the Sage Emperor. Not your dead lover Ye Ziyun getting a better chance at life."
Nie Lie shook to his core from what was said. Shen Yue mentioning the book was one thing but the Sage Emperor was another thing entirely. A thousand thoughts caused him to miss Shen Yue leaving.
At that Shen Yue left not heeding any more calls to him. He stopped at the desk and checked out the books he grabbed. Only one of the covers was damaged from Nie Lie's blow.
"Do bring them back in a month's time. Have a good day." The librarian said politely.
"Thank you and I will. Oh before I forget, an orange-haired student and a purple-haired girl knocked over a shelf. I don't know if they picked it up. Both of them looked like they were up to something. If you know what I am saying?" Shen Yue said suggestively as he wiggled eyebrows at the librarian. 'I wonder if this will cause him to focus more on himself to fight instead? After all, the Sage Emperor is his problem really. Not like the bastard can detect me no matter how strong I become. Need to build my strength up all the same though.'
The Librarian's face went red before she marched off to find the "dirty" children. Shen Yue smirked and walked off. He sent the books away into his internal space. He walked through the shop area needing to find anything else of importance.
Nothing fruitful really, so Shen Yue went to the Alchemy Hall to restock on herbs. His thoughts on how long he should allow Nie Lie to live really. Does he strike right before he heads to the upper realms or waits till after?
'The knowledge he has is a must but so much needs to be done here that it would be better to let him develop forces more.' Shen Yue was not really the manipulative type. Took way to much effort really. 'Building a force up the safe way is so hard, I rather take control of one and change it. But the Sacred Family has to many Vultures in it. The Dark Guild full of to many backstabbers. Not proficient enough in Alchemy to lead them. So... that leaves Demonic Beasts as well as the scattered forces in the Tiny World.'
A good right-hand man came to mind actually. But he was stuck in the Abyss Prison Realm. As well as several good forces. The Nether Realm had soso people but they were just a step above the Sacred Family members.
Slightly distracted, he missed someone in passing.
"Ah, young master I am glad to see you." The old peddler from before ran up to Shen Yue. The old man looked healthier and had better clothing on. This proves he was either a charlatan before or made good on the funds he acquired last time. "I have found some of the items and the people. Would you like to look at them and converse with them?"
Shen Yue paused and looked at the old man up and down. He didn't have the look of a liar on him. Sending his Astral Sense outward, he tried to check for an ambush, to no avail really. He did not have the correct skillset.
"Oh you do, that is great. What do you have?" Shen Yue asked kindly.
"Here you go!" The old man shoved a bag into Shen Yue's hand before taking off. "I will collect the fee later. Feel free to go through them first and judge them. I don't want to be late for a meeting I have for some more pieces like that. See you another time young master!" The old man left kicking up smoke along the way.
Thinking to himself, Shen Yue just shrugged an made his way to the Alchemist Guild. He would look through the bag when he had time. Now he needed some low-ranking herbs to practice with as well as inform about the location of a few herbs in the wild. A finder fee went a long way actually.
After handling that, Shen Yue would head home to practice more. Considering no one came to him, he chalked the old man to forgetting to bring those he needed to talk to.
.
Elsewhere-
.
Xiao Ninger sat there on a boulder thinking about what had happened in the last few days. She was having trouble dealing with the reincarnation of herself and by the looks of it, Nie Lie and Shen Yue. But most of all she could not let go of what Nie Lie did with Ye Ziyun.
Considering originally she left before the beasts attacked Glory City, she had know idea about the strength of Shen Yue originally.
Shen Yue intrigued her but in an odd way. He seemed dangerous but he showed no hostilities towards herself and a few others. In fact, besides the one time in the library, it has been peaceful. He even tried to help her.
"Shen Yue, who are you really?" Xiao Ninger said aloud in wonder. Her eyes closed as she felt Nie Lie get closer. The memory she had of the original Shen Yue was sparse at best. Shen Fei was not an issue she needed to worry about as well as her family situation. But the thing with Nie Lie needed to be dealt with. She looked at him in the distance. "Hey…."
"You're ok. That's great. Huff Huff. We need to talk." Nie Lie said out of breath. He chased her down after what happened in the library after getting an earful. Unaware that Xiao Ninger was not the same as before. 'I cannot believe it took so long to find her? I must be slipping.' The little time allowed her to gain control of herself more as the memories fused.
Shen Yue stopped and took out a set of heavy chains he purchased. From his memory, the location as well as the distance he traveled, he could make it back to his residence by cutting through the trees here.
"Yeah we do." Xiao Ninger slid down composed. She would hear Nie Lie out before making her decision. Dying for him once was one thing, but seeing him chase Ye Ziyun was not something she wanted to see. 'Shen Yue will have to wait till later.'
"I know I teased you a little when treating you.." He rubbed the back of his head in mock embarrassment. Not really ashamed of what he had done. ".. just wanted to clear the air now though."
"This is about Ye Ziyun." Xiao Ninger felt her heart clench a little. Seeing him nod only made it worse. "You love her that much?"
"I do." Nie Lie said resolutely. "I know you do not understand my reasons why but.."
"It is fine. I hope we can still be friends at least." Xiao Ninger offered a compromise. "I still need to pay you back for my treatment still." Her heart still set on him as she thought about things. 'Maybe I can get him to see how much better I am for him?'
Thinking this was the best course of action, Nie Lie agreed. A funny feeling passing as they shook hands that he ignored. To focus on searching Xiao Ninger for the weird energy from before.
Xiao Ninger was aware but didn't stop him. As he searched her, she searched him. What happened changed the "Destiny" of the two by a large margin. Just wouldn't show for a few months.
.
Nightfall-
.
Shen Yue wanted to slap himself silly after finally succeeding in a brew that was done. Removing the use of his Flames produced from the Flame Vortex Core was the answer. No matter how he decreased the temperature and controlled it, the force and power were to much.
"Flame Martial Arts are the best for brewing, never would have thought that." Shen Yue moved the liquid into some bottles while shaking his head. Resting was the best option for now with all the brewing done. But that was not the case with the way he was feeling. "These Manuals need to be redone now."
14 different manuals floated in front of him. The Snake moved around the room stretching kind of. Full of energy that needed to be used. However, it was not the time for that. So it had to exercise patience.
Several pieces of paper moved into the manuals as Shen Yue circulated his Flame Vortex Star Dragon Cultivation to the limit. Internally the dragon let a roar as it caused his mind to race.
*Scrtth!* In each of the manuals, words were scribbled in place. Corrections, as well as placements for missing content, were added slowly.
The material he purchased was pulled out to use for smelting preparations as well as the pieces of armor collected by the old man. With a flick of the wrist, they were offered to the man God Shango.
In exchange, Shen Yue received some resources in exchange. Seeds to plant for later by the looks of it. Placing them in the fertile ground inside of his internal space, he went back to melting a few metals for a weapon.
The bulk was melted down and mixed with some demonic best blood. The more spirit energy pushed out, the better it blended into the Metal Seed.
"Just a drop in the bucket for what I need, but no matter." Shen Yue continued the process feeling the Metal Seed barely advance. The pages of the Manuals continued to fill out as well as his created one. "Still finding ways to make it better, wonder what the limit will be?"
Outside his room, Shen Xiu had made it over. A nice full storage ring in her hand to pass over. The Alchemy Association did the exchanges with her as requested by Shen Yue. Which to did worked a lot better than working with a younger generation member.
"I wonder if I should tell him Elder Ming is in hot water for causing him to leave the family?" Shen Xiu was about to grab the door but steeled herself first. "The odds of him doing something strange is not likely. I am sure of it this time."
The Scarlet Fox on her shoulder gave a small shake in dismay. Something told the little beasty she would be wrong. It covered its eyes as the door opened.
"What in the World..." Shen Xiu almost fainted. The fox uncovered its eyes looking just as lost as her. ".. just once... be normal Shen Yue.." Flooping onto the floor, her eyes followed the pages that moved around.
"Close the door." Shen Yue said. Shen Xiu crawled in and kicked the door closed. The fox ran over to the snake to find out what was going on. "Did you need something from me?"
*Fwish!* A red piece of metal needed a little extra push for smelting. The heat knocked Shen Xiu out of it.
"The proceeds from before as well as a map I found in the library of the ruins." Shen Xiu tossed the ring over. A quick check that it was mostly money this time, it was then tucked away. The herbs would be saved for alchemy later. "I do not think it wise I head back to the Sacred Family this time."
"Hmm?" Shen Yue cocked an eyebrow at her. "Did something happen?"
"Not really but they were not as forgiving about me holding out on the family. So I got in an argument with Elder Ming. As well as breaking the arms and legs of a few when leaving." Shen Xiu looked away slightly embarrassed. "My temper got the better of me. And the insinuations I did not care for."
"Those insinuations were what exactly?" Shen Yue pushed his cultivation a little more. The metal and blood pushed into his chest even faster. Spiritual Lines appeared all over his body. Behind him, protrusions extended out for a moment. "Grr!" With a grunt, the Demonic Transformation receded. "Sorry about that, the body is not ready to bare the full transformation. Let alone a partial one."
"The flames are so nice and pretty." Shen Xiu said in a daze. "The fox of yours only looks a little like that. Let alone my transformation." Looking at the manuals and the paper moving around, she had to ask. "Recreating manuals take a long time. A mistake could end someone's life."
"Tru in a sense but you have to keep in mind, the first to make manuals did not know what they were doing themselves. The small-minded will keep others restrained by saying it shouldn't be done. Have you not changed a technique you learned to suit yourself more?" Shen Yue was not going into a debate of not changing manuals. That was a waste of time people needed to change with that issue on their own. "Since you are here, how about we discuss some things for the future?"
Shen Xiu looked away from the floating objects and stared at her increasingly weird nephew. The remainder of the night was spent talking over-cultivation, the ruins, and the happenings in the city.
By the way Shen Xiu was fidgeting about with all the spirit energy produced from Shen Yue's core, she would have a Breakthrough soon.